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SPECIFIGATIQN forming' part of Letters Patent No; 541,280, dated June 18, 1895.

*Application led March 30,

To all whom it may con-cern.-

Be it knofwn .that` LELIAS M. JOHNSON, a citizen of the UnitedL States, and a resident of New-York, in' the county of New York and StateoNew York, have'invented certain new and useful Improvements in Projectiles; and I'do hereby declare that the following'is a full,`clear, and exact .description of the iuvention, which will enable others skilled in theart towhich it appertains. to make and use the same, reference being had .to the accempanying drawings, which 'form 1 a .part 0 this specification, and in whichvFigure l is a side elevation of a projectile of my improved construction.` Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the axis of the same. Fig. 3 is atop 'view oi/the project-ilevwith the `cap removed, and Figs. 4, 5,

and Stare 'detail'view's.illustrating various modifications in the shape'of the cap and the y manner of attaching it to :the projectile. 'Like letters of reference .designate :correspending par-ts in all the figures.

"My invention relates to projectiles for rifled ordnance, and while not limitedin lits application to, yet is more 'especially intended lfor',

. armor-piercing projectilesythat is to say:

conoidal projectiles adapted to penetratejthe Aarmor-plates of ships of war, ioating batteries, andlfortieations protected' by armor- Ip'latesjot modern construction.

Asisvwell known, modern armor-platesof l the' more approved patternsas now produced *in Europe and in the United States, areY hard ened'on the exterior surface, to a depth of from half an inch to one inch anda half (more or iess') by variousprocesses, among which may be mentioned the so-called Harveyizing process, the`Ca'mpbell- (or-'Sheliield) process,`

and several other processes,iboth patentedY and secreh'which .appear to have met with, some degree of success inbeingable to resist e penetration by special armor-piercing projectired from heav'ypow'er aiu-ns, specially l f V'constructed for the purposes-by?permitting the use of heavy charges of high explosives. An examination of the projectiles;afteriiring, seems to show that-theresisting powerl of these modern plates is due tothe'fact,that

`as the hardpoin-t 'of the projectile strikes the hardened surface of the plate against which it is tired, the point ot the projectile becomes upset by the blow at the moment ot impactand thus'loses,in a. great measure,

its power of penetrating the softer metal underlying the. hardened exterior surface of'the` plate. Now, if this upsetting of the hard point at the moment ot impact with the hardened surface of the armor-plate can be prevented, and the shape ofthe point sustained and kept intact while the hardened surface of the plate isbeing pierced, then the projectile would have no difficulty in penetrating theunderlying softer metal and completely ppiercing'the plate, so Athat the projectile,if of explosive character, would have reached the point where it can doy most effectual damage prior to bursting or explosion, insteadyofexploding. practically exteriorly to the armor' protected sides of the vessel and thus doing comparativelylittle execution. Myinvention is based upon this theory,andexperiments 'have demonstrated that it is correct.

My improvement therefore consists broadly in the combination witha pointed projectile (having a hard point) of azdetachable snp- .porting and sustaining cap, recessed on its under side so as to overlap'and cover the pointof the projectile and adapted to sustainand support said point at the moment of impact with the hardenedsurface of the armor plate against which the projectile is fired, so that vthe point cannot fljol or become upset by the blow votimpact with theplate, but will `bie supported and tsshape sustained while the hardened surface of the plate isbeing pierced.-r M r .On the accompanying drawings, the refe-rence-letter A denotes thev cylindrical body ot' a projectile (eitherpsolid or hollow); B, the conoidal headand C the hard pointer apex, which, on tiringthe-projectile. against a modernI armorplate,.:iirst strikes the hardened 1surface-,of the plate. Upon this hard point suitable metal or desired shape ex- C, I place a cap D, et' any grade of metal, and of any terorly; butrecessed' on its under side, as shcwn at D', so that it will overlap and'fit upon the point C. To prevent this cap D' from becoming detached during the Hight of the projectile through the air (or Water), it

can be fastened to the head of the projectile.

around the point in various ways, as shown for example, in Figs. l, 2, and 3,\in which I have shown the supporting cap D'attached tothe c onoidal head B of the projectile by means of short metal bolts c (preferably three in number, although there may bemore o r less), which are fastened obliquely into the sides of the cap D, so as to project with their inner ends .into the recess D and into aper departing from the spirt of, my invention;

Thus, in Figs. l and 2, I havelshown, as examples, the sustaining-cap D with a pointed head d; while in Fig.4, I have shown cap D with a rounded orsemispherical head d. In Fig.

5, thecap D is flat; and in Fig. 6, I have shown capD with a concave or recessed head c.-

Again, instead of the bolts c for attaching the supportin,., rcap D'to the projectile, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, dovetailed bolts or Akeys may be used, as shown inFig. 4, ttting into dovetail'ed recesses in'the conoidal head of ttheprojectile .below the vpoint C; or hookshaped fastenings may be used`,`as illustrated in Fig. 5; or u. band or hoop e maybe used for connecting cap D to the conoidal head B of the pipjectile, as illustrated in Fig. 6. y In other word-s, I desire it to be distinctly un derstood, that Ldo not c ontine or limit myself to any particular .exterior shape-or configuration of the supporting cap D, nor to any. 4`

particular means for or method of fastening said .cap detachably upon the head-of the projectile. Experiments have demonstrated that this recessed supporting capD willeflv fectually support and sustain the hard im- ;pact-point C of the projectile, so" that this cannotk ily oif, flow, or `become upset at the moment of impact with the hardened sur face of the plate.

It would appear that, at the moment of impact, the fastenings by which cap D is attached to the projectile break or become dis- 2 rupted, thus severingtheconnection between the cap and the projectilnd spreading or` enlarging the cap laterally, so as. to form, so

to speak, a supportingning or circular sleeve l varound the projectile through which this enters and pierces the plate. It has been demonstrated that the metal of the cap D, acting in this manner will e'fectually support the point C and :sustain its shape by such support, not onlyat the moment of actual iin- 'paet, but while the point penetrates the comparatively thin hardened outer surface or hard skin of the plate, after the piercing of underlies its hardened surface' will of itself support the point and prevent it from 'I'lowing or upsetting during the penetration of this softer metal which forms the body oi?V the plate.

I am aware that so-called compound pro.

sections adapted to break apart and scatter after the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun and during its flghttoward the point aimed at) for small arms have been made before, in

which the'several separable parts orV sections lare held together either by soldering, or by a'small cap which overlaps and is fastened to the front end ofthe sectional bullet; but both the construction and the result of suoli a device diier very essentially from my invention, which has relation to an altogether different class or' type of projectiles, quite the..

reverse of separable, namely: projectiles which shall remain solid and in one piece not only during their Hight through the air, but even after actual impact and until penetration has been effected. Not until then is its-desirable that a projectile of the armorpiercing type, to which mine belongs, should break and scatter. ference, and distinguishes the modern i armor piercing projectile from all others.

1 ain-also aware of the. patents to William H. Brown, No. 376,728, datedlJanuary 24, 1888; and George R. Wilson, J r., No. 465,230, dated December 15, 1891; the 'former showingnal cylindrical body with a conical point incased throughout its en trelengthin a jacket or e'nvelope of soft metal, substantially like the socalled Lorentz jacketed picket, and many other bullets of that type; while the patent to Wilson specifically describes and claims a projectile with a stepped or shouldered point covered by a hollow (i. e., not solid) or chamber-ed frangible cap; the frngibility or brit- -tleness of thel cap, so that it may be instantly shattered on impact, being an important and absolutely necessary feature. AI claim neither' of these constructions, combinations or ar-- rangements, lwhich could under no circumstances be applied to,-'or form an equivalent for, my invention, which is as follows, to witz 1. T he combination with an armor-piercing projectile, having a hard solid point, of a detachable solid cap recessed to fit and overlap This is a fundamental difimi ,2. The combination with an armor-piercing v projectile, havingaI hard'solid point, of a solid supporting and sustaining cap, recessedon its under side to fit and overlap the point ot the projectile, and attached'detachably to the e0-` cessed on its under side to t 'and overlap -the point. of the projectile, and attached detachably to the head "of the projectile below the "point of the sineb'y fostenings entering aperxo' tures or recesses in the head of the projectile and adapted to become broken or ruptured by the blow of impact; substantially as and.

for the purpose shown and' set forthr In testimony thatl claim the foregoing as my own I have hereunto-affixed nl y signature i5 in presence of Itwo witnesses.

ELIAS M. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

BENNETT S. JoNEs, AUGUST PETERSON. 

